Sequester Doesn’t Really Scare Americans

We have the Washington that cried wolf. After being told more than a half dozen times that the sky was about to fall if Congress didn’t act, the American people have become pretty jaded by the dire warnings of our elected officials. A new poll from NBC/WSJ found that while Americans think the sequester is a bad idea, they are not particularly scared of it.

Overwhelmingly people acknowledge that poorly designed across the board cuts are stupid. Only 25 percent of the public think the sequester is a good idea while 52 percent think it is a bad idea.

Even though Americans think the design of the cuts are bad, they are evenly split on whether or not they want to sequester to happen. The poll found 50 percent believe the spending cuts are too severe and Congress should work to find an alternative. On the other hand, 46 percent think Congress is hopelessly deadlocked and that while the sequester is not perfect it is better than nothing.

After President Obama and Congress spend years needlessly feeding the deficit hysteria, it is now difficult for Obama to do a 180 and try to convince people immediate cuts are far more damaging than long term projections.

Jon Walker

Jonathan Walker grew up in New Jersey. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 2006. He is now living in the Washington DC area. He created a politics and policy blog, The Walker Report (http://jwalkerreport.blogspot.com/).